The Structure of Language

Language has a branching and recursive tree structure everywhere you look:

Recursion means that a tree can contain a tree, which can contain a tree, … Recursive tree structure clearly applies to grammar; for example:

A noun phrase can branch into a tree containing another noun phrase

A sentence can branch into a tree containing another sentence (Maurice, who loved Enid, tried everything to get her to notice him.)

• Tree structures apply at all levels:
• Sentences branch into phrases.
• Phrases branch into words.
• Words branch into morphemes.
• Morphemes branch into feet, syllables, and phonemes.
• Phonemes branch into features (e.g., voicing, place, manner).

• M. Goose Recursion
• This is the house that Jack built.
• This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
• This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
• This is the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
• This is the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
• This is the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

• Examples of grammatical tree structures. These trees are: (1) hierarchically organized (S is at the top, NP+VP come next, etc.) and (2) recursive (trees branch into trees, etc.; e.g., note that the NP branches into a pronoun and another sentence).

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